College Football is finally coming back to Ireland!
Yes, after a seemingly endless drought, the wait is over.
Northwestern and Nebraska will open the 2022 season in Dublin as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Series.
The clash of these Big Ten titans will mark a much anticipated return for college football to the shores of the Emerald Isle, after several big matchups were cancelled as a result of the pandemic.
Nebraska was originally due to play Illinois in August of this year. That game will now instead take place in Illinois.
Both schools boast powerhouse football teams, and this is sure to be a very entertaining matchup.
Personally, we’re already looking forward to sitting in a sunny Aviva stadium with a couple of ice cold pints watching some good ol’ football.
The Cornhuskers and the Wildcats are two of the Big Ten’s finest and this is sure to be one to remember.
A fascinating trend has emerged in college football in recent times: Irish kickers. In the past 6 years, no less than 3 young Irishmen have been recruited for their pigskin booting abilities. And we’re not talking about obscure Division 2 schools here either, oh no. These are legitimate D1 programs, with a serious amount of prestige.
With the increasing popularity of the sport here and the fact that we are a nation of soccer and GAA players, it’s not really that surprising to see players swapping codes. Especially when they emigrate and are immersed in the native sport.
The most recent to be recruited is David Shanahan. The Kerry youngster caused quite a stir in the Irish and international media last year when it emerged that he had been recruited to punt at Georgia Tech. Shanahan grew up watching American football, and upon turning 18, signed with an Australian based kicking academy from where he was signed by the Yellowjackets. And although the pandemic prevented him from suiting up last season, he is bound to get a shot this time around as it will be more or less business as usual when the 2021 season kicks off in August.
The widespread coverage of Shanahan’s achievement shone a spotlight on other irish born college football players; Daniel Whelan and James McCourt respectively. Daniel Whelan is currently punting at UC Davis. How good is he? Well, he was just named to the FCS All America Team. And he declined an invitation to this year’s draft in order to play one more year of college football. Whelan grew up in Enniskerry before moving with his family to California at the age of 13. There, he was recruited to play high school football. Now, he is on the verge of becoming Ireland’s first NFL player in 36 years. But more on that later.
For McCourt, his time as a college kicker has unfortunately come to a close. But during his tenure at the University of Illinois, he famously kicked a game winning 39 yard field goal against Wisconsin. Having waited patiently in line to become the starter, McCourt didn’t waste any time – also hitting a record tying 57 yarder. Originally hailing from Dublin 6, James would have loved to play in front of a home crowd when the Fighting Illini took the field at the Aviva Stadium as part of the Aer Lingus College Football series.. But even if the game had gone ahead, McCourt would have already graduated and would not have been eligible to play.
McCourt celebrates with his teammates.
The last Irishman to play in the NFL was Neil O’Donoghue, who was also a kicker. Are you seeing a pattern yet? O’Donoghue grew up playing GAA and soccer and later went on to win a scholarship at the University of Auburn. During his time there, he kicked a school record 57 yard field goal and was awarded All American Honours. Kind of like our boy Daniel Whelan right? By all accounts it’s a matter of when, not if Whelan is drafted. It would be absolutely fantastic to have an Irishman playing in the NFL during our lifetime and I’m sure we’d never shut up about it.
Everyone at Gaelic Gridiron would like to wish all of the gentlemen mentioned above the very best in their future endeavors on and off the field.
Late yesterday 17th of February 2021 it was announced that the Aer Lingus College Football game between Illinois & Nebraska set for Dublin in August, will not be taking place in the Aviva Stadium as planned.
Instead, the game will take place at Memorial Stadium in Champagne, Illinois. The decision to move the game comes as a result of coronavirus concerns.
This is the second fixture in the five game College Football Classic slate to be adversely affected by the pandemic. Last years marquee matchup between Notre Dame and Navy was also postponed due to public health measures.
While organisers are still committed to the original 5 game plan, there are additional costs and risks post covid that may affect this model.
All four Universities scheduled to play in the cancelled fixtures also remain committed to fulfilling these fixtures.
The most disappointing outcome of the news is that it will be at least another year before Corso and Co. of College Gameday grace these shores.
Stay tuned to Gaelic Gridiron for more College Football news.
Are you starting to experience symptoms of football withdrawal? Good, so it’s not just us then! Under normal circumstances the Irish American football season would just be coming to a close after a long summer . The Shamrock Bowl would have been contested, and teams up and down the country would already be plotting for next season. And with full contact American football in Ireland unlikely to happen until the new year, what ever are you going to do to get your football fix?
Fortunately, we are less than 2 weeks away from football kicking off across the Atlantic! The 2020 college football season (albeit in a much-adapted format) gets underway on the first weekend in September, and despite 2 conferences already pulling out, some football is better than no football! There was a lot of uncertainty as to whether college football would even go ahead at all, and it could very well still come grinding to a halt mid season if there is a sudden spike in coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile in the professional ranks, the NFL seems content to adopt a wait and see approach. Teams are limiting the number of fans that will be in attendance at games, or in some cases are banning fans altogether for the start of the season.
Will the season be completed? Right now it’s impossible to predict, but the odds are definitely stacked against. But at least we’ll have some sort of football to watch soon!
Not content with just sitting and watching football? We get that. Being deprived of any sort of competitive football would drive any player a bit crazy. And while the kitted season may be postponed, flag football is still going strong with games due to start in mid to late September. The non contact version of the sport is just as competitive and demanding, putting a heavy emphasis on skill, footwork and technique. There are flag football teams all over the country, so if you’d like to give it shot get in touch with us and we’ll point you in the right direction!
Let’s be honest, with everything that’s going on in the world these days we’ll take any sort of football we can get our hands on! Football is probably something we all took for granted – not truly realising how important it was to our personal lives as an outlet for socialising and for fitness. I for one will never take anything, let alone football for granted again. So, when you’re sitting cheering for your favourite team on a wintery Saturday evening, or lining up to run routes on a chilly Sunday morning, savour the feeling. It’s more important than you realise!
The final football instalment of Last Chance U arrived on our screens this week, and like any self-respecting football fan I dedicated my evenings to getting acquainted with the latest bunch of misfit players striving to get recruited into a big time college programme.
My expectations for this season were high, perhaps unrealistically so. You can see why Netflix have decided to progress the show onto a different sport – there was just no oomhph. No Fireworks.
Real talk: There was no Buddy Stephens. The show has never been able to recapture the emotional turmoil inflicted by watching the fiery tempered coach go off on his team in Season 1. Yes, it was extreme, but It was effective. And it made for excellent television. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Coach Beam. He seemed to genuinely care about his players, and really wanted to see them succeed. He definitely ranks above Jason “JB” Brown in the hierarchy of LCU coaches.
I liked this season, but I didn’t love it. And I think the reason being is that Last Chance U has deteriorated into a pseudo reality TV show. This affliction started in part 2 of Independence College; players were signing up to play football there with the sole goal of getting on TV and getting noticed. You can’t blame them for this – some Division One coaches (cough Lane Kiffin cough) are notorious for picking up players who feature. But this trend has undoubtedly contributed to the overall feeling of “shtick” I get from the show. The football players are playing up to the camera, and playing down any mistakes they might make. Cornerback Rezjohn White is a prime example of this. While he is unquestionably talented and ended up with scholarship offer to Oregon State, he gave up a couple of big plays and ultimately sat out a large part of the season.
There was one redeeming quality to this season, well technically two. Dior Walker-Scott and Nu’u Taugavau. Honestly these two were the only reason I connected to the show and stuck it out. I was really rooting for these boys to succeed and to make it. They overcame obstacles and adversity with grit and determination and I truly hope they do well at the next level. If you watched the show and weren’t quietly pulling for these two to get recruited then there’s something wrong with you inside.
(Honourable mention to another of the featured players, Wide Receiver RJ Stern. You can understand his frustration at not getting targeted with enough passes, but his constant whining began to grate after a while.)
Overall, it was a refreshing change of pace to get an insight into a substantially different program, in a vastly diverse environment. But having said that, I wouldn’t be in a rush back to Laney College.
Today it was announced that the College Football game between Navy and Notre Dame due to take place in Ireland on August 29th, has officially been cancelled.
There was much speculation in recent weeks that the game would still go ahead despite restrictions on mass public gatherings.
In a statement, Chet Gladchuck, Naval Academy Director of Athletics said: “We are obviously disappointed not to be travelling to Ireland this August, but, as expected, our priority must be ensuring the health and safety of all involved. I am expecting that we will still be able to play Notre Dame as our season opener, but there is still much to be determined by health officials and those that govern college football at large.”
The game is now slated to take place in Annapolis, the home city of the Naval Academy Midshipmen.
The college football game was due to set a new world record, with 40,000 Americans planning on travelling outside of the US for the game, the most to ever do so for a single sporting event.
The 5 Game Aer Lingus College Football Classic Series will now begin in 2021 when the Fighting Illini take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
On Friday evening, Leo Varadkar announced his plan for “reopening Ireland”. From May 18th onwards, there will be the gradual relaxation of the harsh restrictons and the country will slowly return to normal. However, the mass ban on gatherings over 5,000 people still remains in place, until September at the earliest. With the college game here due to take place on August 29th, 2 days before the ban is set to be lifted the fate of the fixture is still very much up in the air.
In a press release sent out early last week, game organisers stated that that they were working hard to ensure the multi million dollar/euro fixture could go ahead with all possible precautions in place.
And you know what, it should one hundred percent still go ahead.
There are so many benefits to this game being played as planned. Let’s for a minute forget the fact that it’s worth millions in tourism and will provide a massive boost the an Irish economy that has suffered deeply as a result of the pandemic. This game is something to look forward to. It’s something to dream about. It’s like a big shining beacon at the end of a very dark tunnel. It gives us a glimmer of hope that one day everything will go back to normal. Or as normal as possible. And its not just American football fans here that are looking forward to it either. Sporting enthusiasts of all codes have embraced our American visitors soon to be annual trip across the pond to play a game of gridiron in the Aviva.
And then there’s the aforementioned issue of money. College football boils down to cold hard cash, and this game is worth a lot of it. Do you really think the event organisers are going to refund all those juicy VIP Travel packages they were selling at $5,000 a pop? No chance. This game also worth several million in TV rights and viewership. There’s simply no way that the organisers, the Unversities and the NCAA ( who ultimately will make the final decision) walk away from that much profit. Even if the game is played elsewhere and not in Ireland, it won’t be anything of the gold mine it would be if it was played on these shores.
Now I hear what you’re all shouting at me through the screen – what about the 40 odd thousand Americans due to travel here for the occasion? America has been one of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic, and letting people travel does seem like a ridiculous idea. But what if those coming here for the game were tested before they were allowed leave the country? In other words, sure you can go to Ireland ,but you have to be tested for coronavirus first. If you get the all clear then you can go. This would be a massive undertaking and would pose a huge logistical challenge. But it’s doable. And by August, I’m hopeful we’ll have the infrastructure in place to have test results back in less than a day which would make this process a whole lot easier.
Even if we have to wear masks and gloves to the game, then so what? It’s better than nothing. If this game proceeds as planned it will be a major indicator that life as we know it is not lost forever. It will give us hope. And hope is what we need most right now.
